Autoblog

click above for more images of the all-Focus orchestra

The European Ford Focus is a big reason that Ford sells more vehicles in the UK than any other automaker, so you'll have to forgive the Blue Oval if it goes overboard in marketing one of its biggest stars. You may remember a Lexus campaign that used the sound systems from 12 Lexus LS 460s to create a virtual orchestra, but Ford has taken the musical theme a big step forward. Composer Craig Richey, sound designer Bill Milbrodt, and friends used a five-door Focus fresh from the factory floor, took it apart, then used the car's many parts to create 31 musical instruments. We're not talking flutes and trombones here, folks. The musical maestros used Focus parts to create such original works as a Rear Suspension Spike Fiddle and Door Harp. Ford will then hand over the Motorcraft-edition instruments to a full-blown orchestra to lay the sound track for the next Focus commercial. The ad will be aired on ITV in Europe on Feb. 4.

We may not have the Euro Focus on our shores, but we are hoping we can get the song on our iPods so that we can ask SYNC to play it when driving our less-dashing Focus. Check out Ford's press release after the jump.

[Source: Ford]

It'll cost you about the same as an iPod, but it's so much cooler. Or obnoxious. Mike Kosco dreamed up a way to make his Hummer growl, as well as sing whatever nuggets that could be crammed into 256 megabytes, too. If you're driving around a Hummer with the Incredible Hulk on the hood, you should probably expect verbal abuse. That's just what happened to the San Clemente, California resident at a coffee shop when teenagers gave Kosco a good heckling over his airbrushed mural. Fast forward two years, and the Horntones system made its debut at CES in Las Vegas.

The system consists of a player, and amplifier and a speaker. It costs $250, and it's light years beyond the old musical horns of the late '70s that would play horrid renditions of songs without the gift of polyphony. The player has a control unit that can navigate through your themes and tones and the entire setup looks high quality and well-designed. There's a website where you can custom organize and configure your sounds and songs, and then load the file onto a thumb drive that you then use to transfer the goods to your FX-550 rig. If you've just got to have Rico Suave at the ready, units are available and shipping, and look for Horntones at SEMA.

check the press release after the jump

A few short years ago, getting a CD player or better yet, a multidisc changer in your car was an upgrade. Now, the little silver disc has taken up residence with cassettes as cast-off technology. Even with the cheap digital to analog converters that are in car stereos, CDs have a sound advantage over lossy data codecs like MPEG, but only us geeks seem to care that hi-hats sound like someone whisking an egg. Besides, portability and flexibility easily trumps esoteric sound quality. Truth be told, even though the original CDs sound better, my mp3 player is so much more convenient that I'll be adding an auxiliary input to my factory stereo – no small feat on some cars.

Ward's Automotive Interior show, currently underway at the Cobo center, is allowing automakers to show their wares to the masses over the next few days, with the realization that future vehicles are bound to dispatch that awkward center control unit for something more intuitive and user-programmable. Several automakers have already realized that people have all sorts of portable devices, and as such, new car interiors bristle with input jacks and 12-volt power sockets.

[Source: Detroit News]

You might say that, in terms of broad market appeal, the iPod is the VW of personal electronics. If that's the case, then what happens when Volkswagen comes out with a digital media player of its own?

The German automaker has teamed up with LG to produce a special MP3 player designed and branded as the Beetle of personal music devices. Rather than simply slapping a Vee-Dub logo on any old contraption, LG designed a fresh product for Volkswagen. Although the shape is the same rounded-corner block as any other on the market, it has a user interface said to be inspired by the New Beetle and is offered in Volkswagen colors including Salsa Red, Shadow Blue and Sunflower Yellow. Of course, it also comes emblazoned with Volkswagen logos, but it seems the designers couldn't fit a bud vase anywhere on the unit.

[Source: Computer World via Motorpasion]

One of the curses I've faced as a recording engineer is that the symphony of every day life drills itself through my skull. It can be quite distracting. People try to converse with you, and all you can focus on is the groovy rhythm coming from a rattly interior bit. Avant-garde musicians and composers have been attuned to the music life creates for many years. John Cage, for instance, wrote pieces that use big fans as an orchestral section. Cage's 4'33 would be the perfect cellphone ringtone, but until that's available, I'd settle for a piece penned by University of Maine music professor Philip Carlsen.

Inspired by Cage's work, professor Carlsen came up with "Car Life: a traffic jam session for automobile orchestra." There aren't too many traffic jams at the Framingham, ME campus where the performance occurred, but for a fleeting moment in time, you could close your eyes and imagine yourself in Manhattan. Initially, the idea was to arrange the automotive orchestra by the timbre of their horns and also incorporate warning buzzers and alarms, but it ended up as a more random affair. There was a "chorus" of Toyotas, however. Like many modern artistic endeavors, not everyone will get it. It's as much a cacophony as incidental music or musique concrete ever was, but we definitely appreciate Carlsen's goal of encouraging people to tune in to the sounds of the world as a type of music.

Click here to hear the symphony

[Source: Hemmings]

It's helpful if you like The Ataris. Hyundai is hoping to lure internet users with a banner ad that no doubt touts the free song. When clicked, the banner initiates a download, plays the song, and also pops up a 20-second commercial featuring the Elantra. You could also opt for the cellphone ringtone if you like the way music sounds over a 1/3" transducer. A second set of banners is going live as well, these to collect contact information on potential customers willingly fill out the form. A song by Secondhand Serenade is the prize for providing a free sales lead to the dealer organization.

Hyundai is angling to snag more of the 18-49 year old age group by running the banners at popular music sites like Pandora, Billboard, and Real Networks. Hey, a focused advertising effort is already better than the wide-net thing we all have to sit through on TV.

[Source: Brandweek]

It's like Pandora for your car! Slacker, a new web-based radio website has just launched this week. The channel selection is very similar to what's available on XM or Sirius, and we liken it to Pandora because the number of songs you can skip is limited, but the selection is large and the experience is flexible and customizeable. The website alone is a nice little diversion anywhere you've got a browser and bandwidth, but the exciting news is that there will soon be an iPod-like device so you can take your Slacker with you. That means never having to listen to the angry guy talk channel while stuck in a traffic jam again. It's also better than the four-song playlists each FM genre now spins, too. The portable device will store songs, and later this year Slacker will be unveiling a car dock that will be able to receive music from satellite signals.

Pulling down music from the birds is the same trick that Sirius and XM manage, but they cost money. Slacker is free once you purchase the hardware. How is that possible? Why, the very same way broadcast television and radio are free: advertising. If you're willing to sit through some ads, you get free music. In fact, the music is merely there to keep you interested enough that you'll continue to listen through the spots – of course, many of us are obsessive channel flippers (or worse yet, NPR junkies). You can have your Slacking and no commercials, too. For about half the price of Sirius, your $7.50 per month will keep the music rolling in and offer you unlimited skips and no ads. The price is so much lower because Slacker doesn't have big loans for satellites to pay off. The quality is in the MP3 realm, and sounds decent, which is encouraging. Some of us with finely tuned ears have a hard time listening to SatRad because of the digital compression artifacts. We'll see what happens if Slacker is able to popularize it's offerings, and deliver on the promise they're dangling tantalizingly in front of our noses.

[Source: Kicking Tires]

First, Mercury uses Spokesmodel Jill Wagner, who apparently leaves more of an impression on viewers than the cars she's shilling. Then there's the "youthful" music likely picked by a wonk in the ad agency. The band's name is Morningwood. Yup. The very same thing that is not likely to afflict the average Mercury customer (unless they're popping those little blue candies). Either way, it's a catchy little tune called Nth Degree, and at least there's signs of life in the Mercury spots.

Tipster Tracy has pointed us to a fun little video posted on YouTube. Someone's apparently got way too much time on their hands, and chooses to create crappy animation in the modern juvenile male motif. You will not get these minutes of your life back. You've been warned, now go waste 'em!

The homemade video and actual Nth Degree are after the jump.

It's not often that we post video footage from BET, but Jay-Z's latest music video for "Show Me What You Got" makes us wonder if we haven't been missing something.

The video puts some hip-hop flava' on the James Bond theme, set in Monaco with Jay-Z cruisin' the streets of Monte Carlo, ridin' the Mediterranean waves in a speed boat, layin' down some cards and cash at the casino and kickin' it at a seaside party.

The best part is right up front in the first minute, with Jay-Z riding shotgun in a Ferrari F430 Spider with Dale Earnhardt, Jr. at the wheel, racing Danica Patrick in a Pagani Zonda Roadster down Monaco's unrestricted countryside roads. Whether you like rap music or not, this video's not to be missed.

[Source: Jalopnik]

While many automakers are scrambling to increase the music quotient in their cars via the addition of auxiliary inputs, a.k.a. iPod jacks, Volkswagen has announced the V-dubs Rock promotion today that turns up the wick on in-car entertainment. Beginning today and lasting through December 31st, anyone who purchases or leases any 2007 Volkswagen model or select 2006 models will get a custom First Act GarageMaster electric guitar that can be plugged into their Volkswagen and played through its sound system. The guitar displays the corresponding vehicle's VIN number and features pick guards colored to match the vehicle. Of course, the guitar is plastered with VW logos galore on the knobs, neck and other places, and comes with VW-branded picks and a guitar strap made out of seat belts. Even the blue indicator light on the guitar is the same shade as VW's trademark IP lighting.

The guitar's real trick, however, is its ability to play through the sound system of any VW via the auxiliary input thanks to an on-board preamp. We have to admit, we've never heard of FirstAct before so we can't comment on the quality of the instrument, but neither of us actually play guitar, which begs the question, who exactly is Volkswagen targeting with this promotion? It's a nifty give-away, but seems like an expensive one considering how few customers can even play Stairway to Heaven.

(Check out additional pics of VW's free music gear and the official press release after the jump.)

[Source: Volkswagen]

UPDATE: To clear things up, the First Act guitar is available with all cars except the Touareg, Passat, and Eos. So for 2007 models, it's the Jetta, Jetta GLI, GTI, Rabbit, New Beetle and New Beetle Convertible; and for 2006 models it's Jetta, Jetta GLI, GTI, Rabbit, New Beetle and New Beetle Convertible.